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New York Giants Punter Steve Weatherford Keeping His Eye on the Prize

May 6th, 2013 at 8:30 AM By Casey Sherman

After being in the league for seven years, New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford finally got to taste a Super Bowl championship in 2011. But that hasn't quenched his thirst and he's made it abundantly clear that winning his first Super Bowl only has him wanting more, and he has every intention of getting there again.

After having such a successful season in 2011, ending in a victory over the New England Patriots, crowning them Super Bowl champs, the Giants went on to have another mediocre regular season. They would finish 9-7 and lose a close divisional race forcing the players to watch the playoffs from home. But missing out on a chance to repeat helped Weatherford realize how fortunate he is.

"It wasn't miserable it just makes you appreciate a little bit more how special it is to win a super bowl. I've been in the NFL in eight years and only won it one time, so I consider myself lucky," Weatherford told Giants 101.

Though missing the playoffs last year helped him realize his accomplishments from the year before, Weatherford is as competitive as they come and knows the goal is to get the the big game every year, especially this year. The Giants have the opportunity to play a Super Bowl home at MetLife Stadium; an opportunity that doesn't come around often.

"It's always the main goal. You always want to win the Super Bowl, it's the team goal every year. There's the seven times I haven't been able to do it then the one special journey we had when we were able to do it, so that was a magical experience," he said.

The road to the Super Bowl begins in the offseason and Steve knows that. He's finally had the chance to reunite with his teammates to start training at the Giants' practice facility again and see who's ready to start down that championship path again.

"It's been great because we've been apart for three and a half months and to get back to it together with the guys you see who's been training and who's hungry," he added.

Weatherford has become one of the leaders of this Giants' team. His attitude and love for the game is obvious, making him a true asset to the organization. Hopefully his attitude becomes contagious and should inspire his teammates to play with the same passion.

Justin Pugh played tackle at Syracuse, and the spot on the New York Giants’ offensive line that seems most open right now is right tackle. So it’s easy to presume that Pugh, who was their first-round draft pick last week, will challenge for the starting right tackle spot in Giants training camp. David Diehl and James Brewer don’t appear to pose an insurmountable challenge for the highly regarded rookie, and if he shows he can handle the job, there seems to be no reason not to give it to him.

However, prior to the draft most scouts were projecting Pugh as an NFL guard because his arms had measured short at the combine. And as Art Stapleton of The Record explained in a recent blog entry, the Giants’ offensive line picture is fluid: The overlooked domino here is Brewer, of whom Reese has said “we expect [him] to come on and contribute this year.”

Brewer worked at guard last season when Snee and Baas were banged up, and I could see one of the three (Pugh, Brewer, Diehl) having more of an impact at guard if someone should win the job at RT outright. Down the line, if Brewer proves he could handle RT, then in 2014 it would not surprise me if Pugh lands the starting job at LG with Boothe on a one-year deal.

This is why the Pugh pick makes sense as a Giants first-round pick. Not because he fits an immediate need. The Giants don’t draft that way. Pugh made sense for the Giants because they don’t know what their needs are going to be on the offensive line a year from now. They’re thinking about a 2014 version of Pugh, who’s had some NFL experience and a chance to show a bit of what he can and can’t handle in terms of position. If he shows he’s a tackle, then they know they’re set at the tackle spots with him and Will Beatty. If he shows he’s not, then maybe he replaces Boothe (or, down the line, Chris Snee) and they know they need to find a right tackle unless Brewer shows he’s the answer over there.

The Giants like Pugh as a player and believe he’s going to be able to handle the NFL, regardless of where and when he’s asked to be a full-time contributor. The “need” he fills is “long-range offensive line puzzle piece,” and they believe he’s a good enough player to succeed wherever and whenever he ends up fitting.

This is, essentially, what I and a number of others have said from the day he was drafted. My fond hope is that Pugh turns out to be a nasty guard playing the left side who is fully capable of pulling to the right side as required. That would mean Brewer won the RT job and our line would be in great shape if Mosley can prove good enough to be able to succeed Snee.

I posted this more because of Brewer than Pugh. I have talked before about Brewer playing guard but couldn’t remember where I read it. It’s clearly stated in this piece and makes the whole OL picture more interesting. I would almost bet on Brewer and Pugh starting at this point but think Pugh is more likely the RT. We have youthful options that we didn’t have last year. With Brewer and Mosley now being a year more developed plus the addition of Pugh.

Not Mosley. I love his potential, but he didn’t get a year of development. He was on IR. About the only thing he could do was learn the playbook and blocking assignments on paper. He couldn’t have received a lot of coaching. Mosley is pretty much the equivalent of a rookie this season. If he’s going to prove out it will be in 2014-2015.

I think he’s still further along than he would be. It reminds me of Cruz’s rookie year because both were ended by injuries that weren’t really that bad. While he didn’t get full development I think because he still played most of the preseason he did develop some. And should be 100% for OTAs. But he still probably won’t play this year unless we has several OL injured at the same time.

I’m going to repeat myself and wonder why there’s an assumption that we are so weak at the MIKE position?

All indications last season were that the team believes that Herzlich will eventually have that job (remember the quotes about his “learning from Chase so he’ll be ready when he needs to be”?). He certainly looked up to it in that last game of the season when he played extremely well.

Connor has been brought in as the veteran whom they KNOW can give them at least what Blackburn did: a good between the tackles player who can cover a little (in fact, Connor is a sounder technician than Chase in regard to wrapping and tackling, and a bit better in coverage). But I suspect that the coaches are hoping Mark Herzlich comes in and beats him out for the starting spot.

And then there’s Muasau. He’s a bit of a mystery but the staff liked him last season (remember TC talking about how he “looked like a middle linebacker”?) and he is no longer so raw.

In short, I’m not at all sure they have a “problem” at that position that requires going into free agency and overpaying for a veteran. They may need one more linebacker in order to have sufficient depth across the board on their second line of defense, but one may emerge from camp among the young ones who will be there. If no one does, there will still be some veterans looking for jobs when late July rolls around. There’s no rush required.

Improving the MLB position doesn’t mean it will be average in 2013. Herzlich not being able to beat out Blackburn last year fair or not I think quieted the hope many of us had for Herzlich. While I believe he can beat out Conner I don’t think that’s saying much. Conner last year for Dallas just look like a JAG vet who shouldn’t be starting. It’s hard to be overly excited about a vet that was a backup on an average defense.

Muasau was on PS. I know that means we thought something of him but going from PS to starting MLB is a huge leap. He’s actually the most exciting of the 3 because in my view because he has some coverage skill.

All that said I think there’s reason for hope. We did win with Blackburn at MLB and both Conner and Herzlich I think can be better. Unlike Blackburn with Rivers, Williams and Paysinger our MLB only has to be a 2 down player which I think helps both player and makes it more likely they don’t have to be a weakness. I don’t feel great about the situation and like Dansby better than either player but Conner and Herzlich can be good enough if the DL is as improved as I think it can be.

As all know, I have NEVER forgotten about Paysinger. Having seen what he did at Oregon I have always thought he can play in the NFL, and as I’ve seen him do really well on special teams I became even more convinced that he has a future here.

I would not be at all shocked to see Paysinger wind up the primary option at SAM. He has gained enough weight that he can handle it. And I really like the possibility that he and Williams and Rivers could become a very strong trio of outside linebackers, with Taylor filling the role of a hybrid linebacker/safety and our having a pretty fine antidote to the pistol offense in those four (plus Will Hill, so really, five).

Hard to picture Dansby coming here. Money is tight. And I’m not so certain he can work any MLB magic at this stage of his career. I suppose if he’s unsigned as camp approaches then we might land him as another ‘Reese Dumpster Special’ for a year. But do we want that?

II think rivers should be at mlb and williams and kiwi at olb. I think the way the line is built right now that the guys up frint wil be able to tie up the opponents ol and that we need a speedy lb crew. Rivers gives us ghat type of gut that can attack the lune and fast enought to cover over the middle. We can use conner in the 3 safety package that fewell likes which gave us a boost in 2011. Or we can puck up someone else to split that duty with conner and leave rivers on the outside. Of course counting on rivers to stay healhy all year long is not something I want to do either

I mentioned Rivers at MLB a few weeks ago. But since we didn’t draft an OLB I thought that wasn’t really an option. But it could be. He certainly fits the type of athlete I would prefer at MLB. Also, I think if Kiwi is going to mostly play DE like I would prefer then I don’t think we can afford Rivers at MLB with our current LB group.

It’s been mentioned over the last few weeks, but the beef we added at DT is going to make our entire defense look a lot better. I see a domino effect happening. The obvious is the O line will not longer be pushing our DT off the line into the LB’ers or reaching the second level.

Last year we could not stop the run period. In prior years when the pass rush was getting home, they were seeing a lot more 3rd and long. The inability to stop the run lead to downs and distance that not only didn’t allow the pass rush to get home, but put the D in a position to guess run/pass.

Not only will our DT make the LB’ers look a lot better, but the pass rush and secondary, and get the ball back in the offenses hand.

Hopefully Pugh, Brewer, Mosely and the current vets step up and fortify our run game with Wilson and Brown, open things up for Eli and the passing game, and the dominoes fall full circle.